South African Billionaire Elon Musk has unseated Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Equity News gathered that the Tesla CEO’s net worth now sits at around $128 billion, after increasing by $100 billion this year. There is a sizable gap between Musk and the number one spot, which is currently held by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who has a net worth of around $182 billion.
In January, Musk ranked 35th on the list.
According to the Blomberg Billionaire Index, Elon’s net worth hit a high on Monday as share prices continued its surge from $7.2 billion to $128 billion, and the electric car company’s value has risen following the announcement that it would join the S&P 500 index and was valued at $521.49 (£390.20) a share ahead of Tuesday’s trading on Wall Street index rising stock value close to $500 billion.
Tesla is the most valuable car company in the world by share price, with a market value of just over $494 billion (£370 billion).
It produces fewer vehicles than all of its major rivals, with just 500,000 expected this year. Toyota has an annual production of 10 million.
Meanwhile, Gates’ stocks also moved from $67.3 billion to $127.7 billion which puts him in the third spot.
The overtaking of Bill Gates, who is also worth $127.7 billion, marks only the second time the Microsoft founder has dropped out of the top two on the Bloomberg billionaires index, although Gates could conceivably be ranked higher if he did not persistently donate billions of his personal wealth to charity.
Musk and Gates have recently distinguished themselves by their reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Gates’ foundation committing $36 billion to ramp up the manufacturing and distribution of future vaccines.
(APF)
